Paper, TV stations merge newsroom

AMERICA’S oldest, continuously published newspaper is merging its newsroom with two TV stations in an effort to cut costs and survive the downturn.

The Hartford Courant will combine news operations with WTIC-TV and WTXX-TV – all of which are based in Connecticut and owned by the Tribune, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and currently using America’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection laws to stop it going under.

The Pulitzer prize-winning Courant has lost its editor and now a TV executive has its publisher.

“This is the future of media,” the Tribune’s chief operating officer, Randy Michaels, said in a statement.

Yesterday was a significant day for the American newspaper industry with major changes being implemented in Detroit, New York and Washington.

The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press both began giving out newspapers for free in their city centre, having decided to cut major editions to three days a week.

For the first time in memory, the Washington Post went to press without a business section – a strategy in part to ensure financial news is in the front of the paper, and also to cut newsprint costs. It will not print daily stock updates. It has also cutback on its cartoons, though its normal selection remains available online.

Meanwhile the International Herald Tribune – a popular national read in America, as well as having good distribution in Europe, South American and Asia – has launched a redesign. It has put a much greater emphasis on the word “international”, according to reports from Associated Press.

Perhaps more significantly, its website has now been merged with its sister paper, the New York Times. The Herald Tribune’s site now looks identical to the NYT, and online editors of both titles can select stories from either newsroom.